S2000-sam
RMS Regular
This year sees the 20th anniversary of Honda’s iconic roadster the S2000. Following the success of the 10 and 15 year anniversaries at Euromeet in 2009 and 2014, the S2k Club Italia have kindly offered to host the 20th anniversary Euromeet celebrations once again in Trento, Italy between the 3rd and 6th of May.
The venue selection of the Dolomites is no coincidence, this is where Honda designers actually brought prototypes of the S2000 to test and develop the car. The design ethos for the car was to create a “Touge” warrior. (Touge meaning “mountain pass” in Japanese). The combination of mountain passes and sharp bends were where Honda wished to hone the handling characteristics of the S2000. The chief designer of the S2000, Shigeru Uehara, has attended in previous years as a mark of respect. Uehara led Honda’s sports car development projects at Honda R&D and saw them from conception to ending, culminating in the S2000, Integra Type R (DC2/DC5) and the NSX-R.
Having been fortunate enough to attend the last Euromeet in 2014, it was amazing to see other S2000s from all over Europe. From Portugal to Estonia, Greece to Finland, from Moscow, all of Europe was represented, even NI/Irish owners! All sharing the same passion for Honda’s 50th birthday present to itself. This year as part of the 20th anniversary celebrations, between 150-200 European S2000s are expected to attend. 8 Irish cars will be making the hoon across Europe to enjoy the iconic mountain passes. These are very well organised events culminating on a 150 mile drive through the Dolomites just at the time of year when the passes are at their most quiet.
There is a great mix of standard and modified S2000’s, even some running ITBs, turbos and superchargers. A great event for enthusiasts of the S2000. For us from here it will probably be a 3000-3500 mile trip. I will do a full report on the whole experience later in the year.
